HUMAN RIGHTS IN NEW ZEALAND 20 1 0 DNA testing and databases developments have tested the strength of New Zealand’s DNA samples may be used to protect public security human rights protections. The chapter on the right to in the context of the apprehension and conviction of justice considers these proposals in more detail. offenders. There is a strict statutory regime to govern the collection, storage and use of DNA in this area (Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act (CIBSA) 1995). A number of positive steps have also been taken to reduce offending and victimisation. In April 2009, the Minister of Justice and Associate Minister of Corrections In 2009, the CIBSA was amended to allow police-wide convened a meeting on the ‘drivers of crime’ to identify powers to collect DNA from persons before they were and suggest ways of addressing the causes of crime. charged or convicted, such as matching DNA profiles There was general agreement that the key solution lay in against samples from unsolved scenes of crime. early intervention, and that this required a co-ordinated The amended legislation lowered the threshold for the police to obtain DNA samples from suspects. It also widened the spectrum of offences for which DNA sampling would be allowed. approach across a range of government sectors, rather than the justice sector alone. The Government has since announced an approach aimed at improving services for those at risk of being the offenders or victims of the future and their families. There is increased focus on The Attorney-General considered that the amending addressing the issues that lead to the high number of legislation undermined the right, in the BoRA, to be secure Mäori who are apprehended, convicted and imprisoned. against unreasonable search and seizure, by allowing DNA The Government has identified four priority areas for databank collections to include people not charged with cross-government action:  45 crimes and without judicial oversight. • antenatal, maternity and early parenting support Where DNA is collected under a voluntary regime (e.g. for • programmes to address behavioural problems in young the purpose of determining biological family connections children in immigration), it will not be covered by the CIBSA. There • reducing the harm caused by alcohol may also be wider implications if DNA is used for different • alternative approaches to managing low-level offenders purposes from those for which it was obtained, and if the storage of the DNA collected outside the criminal regime is not adequately monitored. and offering pathways out of offending. 46 Since 2004 the New Zealand Police have taken a number of steps to better protect the security of people in New Protections for the individual Zealand. The 2009 police public satisfaction survey show Since 2004, there has been a rise in popular anxiety about that 72 per cent rated their trust and confidence in the crime. Successive governments have responded by imple- police as ‘full’ and ‘quite a lot’, up from 69 per cent the menting legislation and policy to better protect individual previous year. security by, for example, imposing longer sentences and Diversity reducing eligibility for bail. Most recently, in 2009, Acknowledging the increasing diversity of the New legislation popularly known as the ‘three strikes law’ Zealand community, equity and diversity are critical imposed a life sentence with a non-parole period of 25 elements of the New Zealand Police’s Strategic Plan to years for a third listed offence other than murder, and a 2010. Recruiting initiatives continue to reflect cultural life sentence without parole for a second or third listed diversity and, in particular, target female, Mäori, Asian offence of murder. 44 A number of these legislative and Pacific peoples. 44 Except where the court considers it would be manifestly unjust to do so. 45 New Zealand Government (17 December 2009), ‘Drivers of Crime: a whole of government priority’ (media release). Accessed 3 November 2010 from http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/drivers+crime+whole--government+priority 46 The impact of these initiatives is to be monitored by the Ministry of Justice, and a review of progress will be carried out in 2011. 117